Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations

Fall In Line Or Get Out: Shulkin Taking Steps To Rout Rebellious Political Foes In VA Department

Veterans Affairs Secretary David Shulkin, following a scandal over travel expenses, says he has the support of President Donald Trump and intends to keep his position. Shulkin is also taking steps to purge the department of those who he thinks are trying to undermine him.

The Associated Press:
Shulkin Intends To Stay In VA Post With White House Support
Campaigning to keep his job, Veterans Affairs Secretary David Shulkin said Tuesday he had no intention of quitting despite blistering findings of travel abuses connected to his 11-day trip to Europe. He issued an extraordinary warning to VA staff rebelling against him: Get back in line or get out. Speaking after a Tuesday meeting at the White House, Shulkin told The Associated Press that White House chief of staff John Kelly affirmed he still had the trust of President Donald Trump. (2/20)

In other national health care news —

The New York Times:
Trump Moves To Regulate ‘Bump Stock’ Devices
President Trump — under pressure from angry, grieving students from a Florida high school where a gunman killed 17 people last week — ordered the Justice Department on Tuesday to issue regulations banning so-called bump stocks, which convert semiautomatic guns into automatic weapons like those used last year in the massacre of concertgoers in Las Vegas. (Shear, 2/20)

The Washington Post:
‘I Would Rather Not Be Alone.’ Behind Their Anger, Florida Students Are Still Teens Struggling With Trauma.
She was tired of catching herself staring blankly at the wall, so Hannah Karcinell sent a group text to her friends: “Hi, I’m thinking of having a thing at my house.” Those friends invited their friends, and now she was waiting for everyone on her back patio, wearing a Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School cheerleading tank top. She heard a thud. Her whole body tensed. “Should I put the food out now?” her mom called from the house. Hannah turned. The sound, she realized, had just been Jodi Karcinell pushing open the back door, which sticks. (Contrera, 2/20)

The Hill:
Dems Seek Reversal Of Nursing Home Regulatory Rollback
A group of Democratic senators want the Trump administration to reverse its steady rollback of regulations on nursing homes. In a letter sent to Alex Azar, the secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, as well as Seema Verma, administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), the Democrats allege that the regulatory rollback “will inevitably weaken the safety of our nation’s nursing homes and put patients, many of whom are elderly and wholly reliant on this care, at greater risk.” (Weixel, 2/20)

USA Today:
Albertsons, Rite Aid Deal Creates U.S. Supermarket And Healthcare Giant
Supermarket giant Albertsons is buying part of Rite Aid, the nation's third-largest pharmacy chain, as the companies try to navigate sweeping shifts in the food and health care industries. Rite Aid (RAD) and Albertsons, the private-equity backed company that operates Safeway and several other grocery chains, said the deal would create a company with expected 2018 revenue of $83 billion and potential annual earnings of $3.7 billion before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization. The deal is aimed at sparking Rite Aid's expansion as the company competes with retailing giant Amazon, which is eyeing a potential entry into health care, as well as Walmart. (McCoy, 2/20)

The Washington Post:
CDC Warns About Salmonella Infections Traced To Kratom
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Food and Drug Administration and several states are investigating an outbreak of salmonella illness linked to kratom, an unregulated herbal supplement that is sometimes used for pain, anxiety and opioid-withdrawal symptoms, the CDC said Tuesday. The agency, which urged consumers to not use kratom in any form because of the possibility of contamination, said the infections started in October and have affected 20 states. Eleven people have been hospitalized, and no one has died. Most of the people sickened have reported consuming kratom in pills, powder or tea, according to the CDC, which didn't name any specific brands or suppliers. (McGinley, 2/20)

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